oklahoma snow/ice storm

[okshowmom]

Was just wondering how fellow planeteer's are holding out?

 

[Coop]

We are in Beaver Co. Okla  where we received about 10 inches of snow. It isn't too bad as we needed the moisture. It is 5 degrees here this morning. That is the only thing I don't like  breaking ice in all my tanks. We did not loose our electricity and very thankful for that. I feel for those who did loose their elec as that adds a whole new workload

 

[afhm]

Talked some friends around the Gracemont/Anadarko area and they said it could be up to 2 weeks before they got electricity.

 

[knabe]

my aunt moved in with her daughter as she has no electricity or heat.

thank goodness for fire.

 

[coachmac]

We are not in OK but close.  Missed a bullet here, not much in the area of ice! (good) Around 10 inches of snow.... (not as good).  Cold this morning.  Invested in a tank de-icer right before this hit and it has worked great.  Now just have to remember to unplug the thing when it warms up.  We are just glad that we didnt get the 1-3" of ice they were calling for.  Feel for those Okies that are w/o power.  We went through that three years ago..... Jan. 12th, 2007.... not that I have that day etched in my brain or anything.  Went powerless for 11 days and that was the last time that we had a tropical fish tank set up.  Once we were able to get to the house (downed trees) there was two inches of ice on the top of the fish tank in the house and the well house looked like a bomb went off.  I bet I don't get caught off guard again, like that time! 

 

[wrc]

We didn't get too hard in Stillwater but my fulltime job is an electric lineman so we are in southern Ok while my wife and some good neighbors are taking care of the cattle till I get home. It looks like we may be here awhile.

 

[farmboy]

we got maybe 2 inches of snow last night. we dodged the big stuff by about 100 miles I'd say

 

[linnettejane]

im not that far from you zach...we got 6 inches from that same storm...no ice though, thank heavens, and we still have electric (around christmas, there were people in my area that went 2 weeks without electric!)...but it sure is cold...5 degrees right now...wind chill in the negatives...brrrrrr.....

hope everyone stays safe and warm... (angel)

 

[Sunset Hills]

We got a lot!  Like 8 to 12 inches in VA

 

[Cowfarmer65]

Hope everyone gets through this OK. We get this crap all the time and are probably able to deal with it better cause we just expect it and are climatized to it. This is the first year in my life that we haven't lost ears on our January calves.....Two more in the barn to calve this morning and it's only a little colder way up here in Eastern Ont. Canada. We're at -4 F. 

 

[Sunset Hills]

We've got more snow coming tomorrow and this weekend.
Global Warming.....Yeah right

 

[ZNT]

Talked quite a bit with our friends from Anadarko and Elk City while at the FWSS. They were comparing this storm to the one in 2007. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of you being affected. We didn't get to talk to many of our friends from Nebraska because hardly any of them could leave the disaster they have been dealing with all winter long.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[the angus111]

we got our big ice storm 3 years ago,still replacing poles.poor OKC gets torup w/ tornadoes,fire ,ice .its the alley of bad weather.Rusty

 

[[email protected]]

Here is a picture near chickasha, ok.  I am afraid we will loose this tree after 3 years running of ice storms

 

[jlingle]

We're in Altus OK, in Jackson County.  This part of the state was hit very hard.  The last estimate I heard was 123,000 people without power.  They think the city of Altus might have power towards the end of this week, but out here in the country it could be several weeks.  There really isn't any isolated lines down, pretty much every road you drive down in the country you see lines snapped and poles down.  It's nuts.  I"m at my in-laws in Vernon, TX right now. My wife and kids went down there to stay during the outage, but I've been staying with friends in Altus.  

We got nearly 1.5 inches of ice.  To put that in perspective, imagine having barbwire fences that are 3" in diameter.  That's what we're looking at.  The power lines and poles had no chance.  Electric fences are all laid over, nearly all of the trees are completely destroyed..... it's a mess. It took me an hour & 15 minutes just to hook up to the bale hauler trailer & pick up a bale.  The trailer was covered in ice & I couldn't lift it, the receiver hitch was frozen, the bales were completely frozen together.....  I"ve never seen anything like this.  The most routine tasks and chores turn into several hours.  Opening a gate might mean that you have to beat 500 pounds of ice from it before you can lift it.  I had 3 tumbleweeds in front of one gate, and they presented a nearly impenetrable obstacle.  I beat those silly tumbleweeds with a pipewrench for 15 minutes before I could drive over them.  Each tumbleweed was basically a giant barbed block of ice.  When I finally ran short on patience, I locked the 4WD in on my truck and ran over what was left.  I was really lucky I didn't deploy my airbag when I rammed the remains of those tumbleweeds.  It's just silly.  

Generators are a hot commodity right now.  I know a guy who has been traveling all over the place buying generators, marking them up $200 and selling them here in SW Oklahoma.  He can't keep them.  There are 2 gas stations open in town, and each one has a line of people about 25-50 cars long.  People are freaking out.  Out where we are staying in the country, we have propane powered heat and cooking surfaces. We've all cleaned out the freezers on our indoor refrigerators, so we're eating like kings.  Hamburgers, steaks, sausage, and wid game.   We've been playing dominoes until the wee hours each night and having a ball.  We were prepared, and bought plenty of gas, food, and withdrew plenty of cash to deal with the potential problems we were going to face.  I fed cows this morning, then went to work on our chainsaws and got them back into shape to deal with the horrendous mess we have to clean up when everything thaws.  There are plenty of others in our area though who aren't so fortunate.  They weren't prepared at all.  It's a little sad (okay, it's a little frustrating to me) that they wait until after the disaster strikes to try to get things ready for their family to survive.  

Anyway...... that's what we're facing.  It's ugly but those who were prepared for the potential nightmare are doing well.  Those who werne't prepared are having a tough time.  It's a lot like anything else, I guess.  If you take care of your responsibilities and prepare for what could happen, life is much easier for you.

 

[[email protected]]

You have to find some humor in all of this.  Here is some of mine.  We lost electricity about 4:30 thursday.  I call immediately to be as early on the list as possible.  We were hoping that we might get it back on by evening, but we were wrong.  I kept remembering the stories my mother shared about how cold it was in their shack of a house.  There bedroom was the lean to wood shack attached to the house and converted to a bedroom for the kids.  She said that they would just layer the blankets on until they were warm so they could stand the cold.  So  I did the same.  After  4 blanket, Check, Quilts.  i felt I had plenty of covers for the night.  It was really cold outside so I thought It was going to get cold fast in the house.  We went to bed about 11:00 pm and the house was quite comfortable but cool.  My first thought when we got into bed was "dang those covers are heavy.  Pam got in and covered up and she couldn't move.  The weight was just too much.  I thought i was going to need a tractor with front end loader to lift the covers just high enough to roll over.  After 3 hours of just trying to roll over I got rid of 2 of the quilts.  Pam said thank god, my body can breath now.  We both just laid there and laughed at 2 oclock in the morning.  I guess our house is better insulated than mom's old shack.  It was cold but we never even blew any smoke.  It was a moment to thank god that we are fortunate enough to be blessed with a great home full of love and laughter.    The next day I asked mom how she moved with all those blankets stacked on the bed.  She laughed and said she couldn't move they were too heavy.  She asked why I wanted to know.  I just said I was curious. (lol)

 

[AAOK]

Approximately a 1 square mile area on the south side of Ada, OK hit by ¾ inch of Ice Thursday.  The rest of the Ada area received ½ inch or less.  We lost all power, internet and phone service at 8pm Thursday night.  I started cutting my way out of our driveway Friday morning as the freezing rain was turning to sleet, and then snow.  After 7” of snow, two more huge limbs had fallen across the drive.  Finally got it cleared at 3pm Sunday, and OG&E had power restored an hour later.  Zero structural damage; only trees.  Wednesday I brought in from the farm my 14 year old generator, which had not been started in two years.  It fired up on the third pull, and kept two freezers, two refrigerators, a microwave, radio, TV, DVD player and sump pump running the duration.  My wife, our dog Elmo, and I camped out in our 72 degree basement, slept on our double bed inflatable mattress, watched garage sale DVDs, and had a great time in the dark.  We roasted Hot Dogs, cooked Chili and made Smores in the fireplace. Moral of the story: Always plan ahead, and make the best out of the resources available.

Back to work Monday.................................

 

[jason]

Approximately a 1 square mile area on the south side of Ada, OK hit by ¾ inch of Ice Thursday.  The rest of the Ada area received ½ inch or less.  We lost all power, internet and phone service at 8pm Thursday night.  I started cutting my way out of our driveway Friday morning as the freezing rain was turning to sleet, and then snow.  After 7” of snow, two more huge limbs had fallen across the drive.  Finally got it cleared at 3pm Sunday, and OG&E had power restored an hour later.  Zero structural damage; only trees.  Wednesday I brought in from the farm my 14 year old generator, which had not been started in two years.  It fired up on the third pull, and kept two freezers, two refrigerators, a microwave, radio, TV, DVD player and sump pump running the duration.  My wife, our dog Elmo, and I camped out in our 72 degree basement, slept on our double bed inflatable mattress, watched garage sale DVDs, and had a great time in the dark.  We roasted Hot Dogs, cooked Chili and made Smores in the fireplace. Moral of the story: Always plan ahead, and make the best out of the resources available.

Back to work Monday.................................

Glad you made it through it.
Ice is 100x worse than snow. 

 

[AAOK]

Approximately a 1 square mile area on the south side of Ada, OK hit by ¾ inch of Ice Thursday.  The rest of the Ada area received ½ inch or less.  We lost all power, internet and phone service at 8pm Thursday night.  I started cutting my way out of our driveway Friday morning as the freezing rain was turning to sleet, and then snow.  After 7” of snow, two more huge limbs had fallen across the drive.  Finally got it cleared at 3pm Sunday, and OG&E had power restored an hour later.  Zero structural damage; only trees.  Wednesday I brought in from the farm my 14 year old generator, which had not been started in two years.  It fired up on the third pull, and kept two freezers, two refrigerators, a microwave, radio, TV, DVD player and sump pump running the duration.  My wife, our dog Elmo, and I camped out in our 72 degree basement, slept on our double bed inflatable mattress, watched garage sale DVDs, and had a great time in the dark.  We roasted Hot Dogs, cooked Chili and made Smores in the fireplace. Moral of the story: Always plan ahead, and make the best out of the resources available.

Back to work Monday.................................

Had to mess up the detail job on my Pickup.  I'll never be without a 4WD.  It's still For Sale, but mighty dirty right now.

Glad you made it through it.
Ice is 100x worse than snow. 

 

[wrc]

I have been gone working out of town since Friday trying to get power back on to the town of Lindsey.  I got to come home this afternoon to wash clothes and check cows and then we are going back in the morning.  I've been a lineman for quite awhile and worked lots of ice storms, but I think this one is the worst one I've seen just because it covered such a large area.  It makes all the long hours and cold work worth it when you see someones lights come back on.